Budapest Questions & Answers

Are shops open on public holidays? Where to get traditional English Ale? Which bank to chose? What is the cheapest mobile contact you can get? All these questions you might have as an expert, a tourist or a student I will try to answer here. If you have a question about Budapest, let me know!

Have a look if you question has already been answered:

Yes, there is indeed a website like eBay in Hungary called Vatera. You can check it out under www.vatera.hu but it is in Hungarian only. The website is working like eBay so people submit items and you can bid on them and if you are the highest bidder the item will go to you. Furthermore there are also classified websites (just like eBay classifieds) which you can find under www.olx.hu or www.jofogas.hu but it is not based on a bidding system. There are tons of mostly used items which can be purchased for a fixed price often very cheap. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

English newspapers are fairly easy to get in Budapest. There is a newsstand chain called Inmedio which is selling all kinds of foreign language newspapers and magazines. You can find Inmedio shops in various places across the city. You can find a list of all Inmedio outlets here: Of course you can find many more shops that sell newspapers in English or in another foreign language. A good way to start is to check the area around your local Embassy in Budapest. Alternatively most newspapers have online versions as well which are either for free or up to subscription. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

There are a lot of gyms / fitness centers in the city center but often I am asked for a clean and high standard gym in Budapest but in this question I see the focus is on the location. However the recommended gyms are also high class and equipped with the latest equipment. So here are a few gyms that are considered in the city center: Mariott World Class – Expensive but good service and facilities Life1 at Corvin Negyed – Near many universities Oktogon Fitness Holmes Place Flex Gym ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

There are several Budapest apartment rental websites where you also can find there houses, properties, holiday houses or business premises. Also you need to distinguish between long term and short term rental which makes a great difference in where to start your search. Assuming that you are interested in long term rentals I can recommend you the following websites to start your research: realestatehungary.hu (English version of ingatlan.com) ingatlanbazar.hu oc.hu/en alberlet.hu/en dh.hu/ Except for Ingatlanbazar and Duna House (dh.hu) all websites have a English version however the property description will still be in Hungarian but at least you can see the features like size, number of rooms, condition etc in English. For short term rentals like a week or even a month I still recommend you to check out the apartments listed on Airbnb which are perfect and uncomplicated for short term rentals and fairly cheap as well. Also have a look at the 10 most beautiful Airbnb apartments in Budapest I have collected recently. ￩ ￫ x × Previous…

In Budapest there are many creative people with great ideas and a very interesting alternative / underground scene for all sorts of unique items let it be clothing, accessories, shoes, art or as you are asking jewelry. When walking through the inner city of Budapest and nowadays especially the Jewish district you find a lot of little shops either selling the designers jewelry or you find the designers own shop. But to not send you for a walk and ending up in the middle of nowhere without actually finding something that interests you I have researched a bit to find some designers with websites or Facebook pages you can check out before visiting them to see what their collections are like. Here are some Jewelry Designers in Budapest you can check out: meska.hu (Online portal for all sorts of handmade stuff) wamp.hu (designer market) dorivisy.hu rekkodesign.com vadjutka.hu/eng/ lokalwear.com/ And some unique Jewelry Designers on Facebook: facebook.com/katona.barbara facebook.com/ringlow13 facebook.com/ekezetgaleria facebook.com/tengriana facebook.com/BUBOREKszer facebook.com/moonfallia.shop/timeline lazarvero.com/hu/ekszerek facebook.com/katalinjermakov.design Additionally there was a similar question not…

I am not really a dancer, especially not a Latin dancer but I have researched a bit and browsed the web for a Latin dancing school in Budapest. I have no experience with these schools nor have I ever seen one from inside but here is a little collection of Latin / Cuban / Salsa dancing schools, courses or meetups in Budapest: www.salsalacubana.hu/english.html www.salsadiabolica.hu (Hungarian only) barriodeltango.hu (Hungarian only) www.holgyvalasz.hu (Hungarian only) Also you can find a lot of events all around Latin dancing on http://latinfo.hu/english/ ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

An often asked questions because usually expats bring their phones from home and often have the problem that it is locked to their old carrier. No matter which country you or your phone is from all phones, yes Apple iPhone as well, can be unlocked and that is pretty easy. Already the big mobile phone carriers offer such service but it is way cheaper if you go in one of the million GSM shops which you find in almost any shopping center in Budapest and also in crowded areas throughout the city. Here you can unlock your iPhone in Budapest (or any other mobile phone) to use it with a Hungarian SIM card during your stay in Budapest. Enjoy ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

There are several possibilities to sell or buy handcrafted goods such as jewelry or home design objects in Budapest. Budapest is a heaven for such things and there are many people offering their arts in shops or design fairs. Here is a little overview where you could try to sell your handcrafted jewelry. The WAMP design fair – www.wamp.hu/en/ GOUBA in Gozsdu Udvar – www.gouba.hu/en/ The Valley of Arts – www.muveszetekvolgye.hu/en DIP Design Passage – www.facebook.com/DIPdesignpassage Budapesi Zsibvásár – www.budaizsibvasar.hu (Hungarian only) Bolha Palota – bolhapalota.net Margitutcakilenc – www.facebook.com/margit9 The Facebook Group “Handmade Stuff for sale Budapest” – www.facebook.com/groups/128970850609811/ Try these 8 possibilities and check them out if they are good for your needs. Good luck. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

I have never used a relocation company to bring my belongings to Budapest but there are a few relocation companies from Hungary and also international ones recommended by the Embassy of the United States of America. They are probably not only do relocations from the US to Budapest but from the UK as well. You can find the list of relocation companies here: http://hungary.usembassy.gov/relocation.html I hope that helps and gets your belongings safe to Budapest. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

There is one large grass football pitch (located near the Margaret bridge entrance) and several small fotball pitches on Margaret Island in Budapest. Both variants are up for rental via the Iharos Sándor Margitszigeti Athlétikai Centrum – short MAC – which you can find under margitsziget.com (Hungarian only). You can find there contact possibilities such as Email and phone number. The small football pitch in the size of a handball pitch costs 11.000 HUF before 16.00 and 13.000 HUF after 16.00 and is available for maximum 14 people. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

I am not into horse riding therefore my answer might not be the must trustworthy but I know that there is one still within the city borders called “Nemzeti Lovarda Budapest – Tattersall” (http://www.nemzetilovarda.hu/) who also have a horse riding school. I am sure that you will be able to get horses there and ride depending on what exactly your purpose is. I would give them a call, the website is available in English so maybe they do speak English as well, and give it a try. Good luck. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

There are some petsitters in Budapest but I assume you would need an English speaking one. I have not made personal experience with them but there are a view petsitters and also pet hotels in Budapest that you could contact for now. Here you go: ILikeComfort.com – http://www.ilikecomfort.com/ – Also offering relocation and home services Several pet hotels – http://list.ly/list/JpP-budapest-pet-hotels – This is a list of several pet hotels in Budapest Good luck for you and your animal. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

Surely there are several English speaking Vets in Budapest but I can recommend you 2 for now which are more or less located in downtown: ProVet – http://www.provet.hu/index.php?lang=en Budapesti Állatkórház (Animal Clinic) – http://www.budapestiallatkorhaz.hu/content/english.html ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

There are several theaters in Budapest that offer English language programs of theater, musical or cabaret performances. For a start you can try: Budapesti Operettszínház – http://www.operett.hu/operett.php?pid=schedule Nemzeti Színház – http://www.nemzetiszinhaz.hu/performances&list=actual&performance=38 I hope you find something there. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

To be perfectly honest I have not really a recommendation for you. I only once made the effort to inform myself about a used car which I than discarded. However I went to a massive used car area in the East of Budapest near the Metro line 2 end station Örs Vezér tere. To be precise the location is at “Albertirsai köz” (link it on the map). It is a place where many different car sellers showcase their cars and you can walk through them and have a look. If they are decent or not I unfortunately cannot answer you. I hope it helps and good luck. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

I personally have been to Oxygen Wellness (http://www.oxygenwellness.hu/en) before and can confirm that their gyms are clean and good. Also I have heard only good things about Holmes Place (http://www.holmesplace.hu/) and World Class Fitness (http://www.worldclass.hu/en/). However these gyms are usually fairly expensive because they offer a lot of services such as Sauna, swimming pools or recreation areas which you might not even need if you just want to train a bit. Alternatively have a look at my collection of fitness centers and gyms in Budapest: http://www.budapestagent.com/fitness-centers-budapest.html ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

I have not been to a dermatologist in Budapest but I would recommend you to go to one of the medical centers such as: First Med – http://firstmedcenters.com/ Dr. Rose – http://www.drrose.hu/en/ Budai Egészségközpont – http://en.bhc.hu/ I hope that helps. ￩ ￫ x × Previous Next

Did you know? In the outskirts of Budapest, it is in Budaörs to be exact, there are some weird street names such as: TV út Kamera u. DVD u. Hi-Fi út Yes, these words mean the same as in English, DVD, TV, Camera and Hi-Fi. All four of them are in the same area and connected to each other so it cannot be a coincidence. So what is the deal? Well this is the area where a large electronic retailer used to be located, Electro World. By now the company went bankrupt. I assume that they have made a deal with the city of Budaörs to name these newly created streets in an industrial area after their main products and therefore they will open up a large store there. The result is that Electro World is bankrupt but the streets still exist. That is just my opinion but the correlation might be true. See below a screenshot of the area in Google maps (click to open in Google Maps itself)….

The Matthias Church in Budapest is one of the most famous and most frequented sights in Budapest. In the heart of Castle District and with the Fisherman’s Bastion in front the Matthias Church is surrounded by other popular sights thus one of area of sights in Budapest which no tourist wants to miss. Additionally to the beautiful sights located up in the Castle District you can also have a walk through the historical district with its beautiful buildings and little roads. Of course the most spectacular and also most popular thing to do in the Castle District is the view and the picture you would like to take. About Matthias Church in Budapest The Matthias Church was built in the 13th century and named after King Mátyás who ruled Hungary between 1458 and 1490. The Roman Catholic church is also know as the “Church of our Lady”. In 1541 when the Turks ruled the country it was used as the biggest Mosque in the country, many ornaments and artifacts have…

If you have problems with the Hungarian language or need help in any way over here in Budapest or even before you arrive there is an interesting service called helpers.hu who takes care of all kinds of problems one might have when moving to Budapest or while living here. The service ranges from B2B services for companies like all kinds of language problems over market research to an entire business launch of your company here in Hungary. Also available is PR work and much more. just check out their B2B section. Further the “helpers” work for private persons, no matter if it is a moving problem or trouble with the public sector the helpers do their best to solve your problem. You have trouble finding a home? Buying a car? Finding your hobby in Budapest? Getting insurance? See, all kind of work can be done by the helpers for students, families, things concerning your house and just everything which might be a problem over here. So who are the helpers?…

I have just played around with a tool provided by Wordtracker that shows which questions people ask directly in the search engines. Anyways I was curious what people ask about Budapest or Hungary. Unfortunately about Budapest there where only few questions but about Hungary there were some more so I thought give them the answer to those questions: Where is the best place to visit in Hungary? It depends on what you would like to do. Most people for sure choose Budapest as it is the biggest city with the most sights and history in Hungary. If you want to go for a summer holiday and go for example sailing you best go to Lake Balaton or if thats too touristic maybe Lake Velence. To try some of Hungarys fantastic wines I recommend to go to Villany in the south of Hungary. Well as you see there are a lot of places to visit in Hungary so the answer depends on what you want to experience. Where to join the…